Lowcountry Headlines

Officials on-scene at a train derailment in Moncks Corner

Officials say just before 7 p.m., five train cars derailed near Cypress Gardens Road. When they arrived on scene, investigators also found that a 12 foot section of the bridge collapsed.

According to Bill Salisbury, Chief of the Berkeley County Rescue Squad, about a 15-to-20 foot section of the bridge on Cypress Gardens Road collapsed on top of the train.

CSX, the train company, says the train had two locomotives and 72 rail cars. Five of those train cars derailed, and all five of those rail cars were empty.

Officials say there is hazardous material on the train, but that material was in a different part of the train and did not spill. Officials said they have removed that material.

No injuries have been reported.

Salisbury says a pickup truck was traveling on Cypress Gardens Road heading towards Highway 52 was unable to stop, so he accelerated and actually jumped over the gap on the roadway, landing on the other side and running off into a ditch. Salisbury says the jump was something out of "the Dukes of Hazard," and that the man told him that it happened so fast, he didn't have time to think. There was some damage to his truck, but the man was not injured.

No injuries on the train or the gentleman in the truck was not injured.

Close to 50 neighbors along the road are without water as of early Tuesday morning. The American Red Cross is supplying water bottles to residents until a fix is made.

The reason the bridge collapsed is under investigation. It will be investigated by the railroad and the highway dept. News 2 is told that it will take days to clean up the accident and repair the bridge.

Traffic will be rerouted through Goose Creek, along Red Bank Road. Troopers with the South Carolina Highway Patrol said this path is about 20 miles out of the way.